1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to making charge transactions by the holder of a plurality of charge cards issued by a plurality of different charge card issuers, periodic reconciliation of receipts representing the charge transactions made utilizing the charge cards with periodic statements from each of the charge card issuers and ultimate settlement of the statements and refers more specifically to a structure for and method of making charge transactions utilizing a single charge card selector card which charge transactions may be charged to any of the card holder's charge cards in accordance with the card holder's preferences and the charge card issuer's interest rates, credit limits and promotions, including means for and the steps of providing the card holder with sequentially numbered receipts and a single consolidated statement including all charge transactions sequentially numbered for easy reconciliation and further including means for and the steps of settlement of the consolidated statement with a single charge card selector who settles with charge card issuers, taking into consideration the card holder's preferences and charge card issuer's minimum payment requirements.
2. Prior Art
Currently, the holder of a plurality of charge cards from a plurality of different charge card issuers initiates a charge transaction at a charge card accepting merchant by carrying a plurality of charge cards and when it is desired to charge a purchase, selecting a particular charge card to which the charge transaction is to be charged and presenting the merchandise and selected charge card to the merchant.
The charge card accepting merchant then obtains card holder and card issuer identification data from the charge card and generates merchant identifying data and charge transaction data all of which data the merchant transfers to a data processor.
The data processor generates the processor's identification data and transfers all the identification and charge transaction data to the issuer of the selected charge card.
The issuer of the selected charge card generates credit authorization data which is transferred back to the charge card accepting merchant typically through the data processor along with required identification data to route the credit authorization data back to the merchant. Credit authorization may be made directly to the merchant and/or be directed to the charge card issuer from the merchant.
Providing credit is authorized, the charge card accepting merchant then provides the card holder with the transaction merchandise, a customer receipt having the charge transaction and card issuer identification data thereon and returns the selected charge card to the card holder.
The charge card accepting merchant and the data processor may reconcile the number of transactions between them and the dollar value of the transactions at the end of each day. Settlement between the charge card accepting merchant and the data processor may also be accomplished on a daily basis through electronic funds transfer.
Ultimately on a periodic basis, the card holder of the plurality of charge cards will receive a statement from each of the separate charge card issuers whose charge card the card holder has selected during the statement period. The card holder must then reconcile his charge transaction receipts with the several statements from the plurality of charge card issuers, which statements may come at different times and may have different formats of information and dates for a given charge transaction, and provide each separate charge card issuer with a separate payment to settle each of the statements.
Such current structure for and method of making charge transactions requires the card holder to carry a plurality of charge cards and to make a selection of a preferred card for each separate charge transactions. In addition, the card holder should laboriously reconcile a plurality of uncoordinated receipts with a number of uncoordinated statements and make separate payments to each of the charge card issuers. No card holder credit limit nor minimum payment protection is provided by the present structure and method and charge card issuer's lowest interest rates and preferred promotions are often unknown and are not taken advantage of automatically.
Each charge card issuer must have structure for and periodically produce a statement for each of their charge card holders and for accepting payment from each of their charge card holders.
In summary, prior structure for and method of making charge transactions is undesirable in a number of respects. A charge card holder feels it is desirable to carry a number of charge cards at all times. The structure for and method of facilitating a charge purchase as it exists today does not provide structure for nor a method of sequentially numbering card holders receipts so that reconciliation of the receipts with statements when they arrive can be readily accomplished. Further, consolidated statements are not possible with the present structure for and method of making charge transactions and the charge card issuers must deal with individual payments from each of their individual charge card holders.
Further, the structure for and method of effecting a charge transaction currently does not allow for preselected card preference and does not permit automatic switching of a charge transaction between a card holder's charge cards to obtain the most advantageous use of the card holder's charge cards. It similarly does not permit automatic shifting of charge transactions to prevent over-credit limit charges or shift payments to take advantage of credit balances or extended credit lines to automatically pay minimum payments. In addition, loss of a plurality of charge cards simultaneously for whatever reason, creates a necessity for contacting each separate card issuer to cancel the charge cards and to obtain new charge cards.
Many charge card holders resent the necessity of carrying a plurality of charge cards at all times and do not make a detailed reconciliation of their customer receipts and statements. They do however have a vague feeling that they are paying someone else's charges periodically.